Cash for Consultants What to know: The city of Beaumont is spending nearly $100,000 on Austin-based consultants “to educate voters ahead of the city’s November bond election.” Part of the proceeds will be used to pay for travel and lodging for the consultants as they go from Austin to Beaumont for meetings. The TPPF take: This is government waste...
A-bsurd What to know: The city of Austin—which is projecting a $33 million shortfall—spent $1.1 million on a bizarre new logo that some are calling “[c]ompletely unnecessary, ugly, and diverts money away from necessary projects.” The TPPF take: It’s absurd that officials spent more than a million dollars on a logo when people are losing their homes to tax...
China Spies What to know: Chinese spies are one of the greatest threats to university research, a new report says. The TPPF take: China and others are making inroads into our universities. “This is not just about stolen research,” says TPPF’s Kate Bierly. “Foreign money opens the door to propaganda and subtle shifts in curriculum that shape...
Money, Money, Money What to know: Austinites work all night, work all day to pay the bills, but still there never seems to be a single penny left. That’s because Austin governments tax-and-spend it all away on frivolous things, like paying musicians a “$200 hourly minimum” to play at city hall’s parties. The TPPF take: Austin governments—and more broadly,...
You Don’t Say What to know: The teachers unions have become hyperpoliticized, Byron York points out. The TPPF take: This is nothing new. “The National Education Association’s political agenda includes vows to stop President Trump’s fascism, eliminate ICE and resist the Supreme Court ruling that allows parents to opt their children out of ‘gender ideology’ classes,” says TPPF’s Sherry...
Adding Insult to Injury What to know: Many Kerrville homeowners haven’t fully recovered from the flooding, but already, another manmade disaster looms. Later this month, the Kerrville city council may set in motion an “8 percent tax rate increase…for three years or until the property values are restored to the base as they were before the disaster damage.”...
Saying the Quiet Part Out Loud What to know: When the Texas Legislature cuts property taxes, many local governments seize upon that relief as an excuse to raise their own taxes. Case-in-point: Judson ISD, where a 5-term trustee openly admitted that “now’s the ideal time for a tax rate election because most homeowners will likely still pay less...
Labor Day What to know: The Communist Party USA wants to reclaim Labor Day, noting that the “first campaigner for Labor Day, Peter J. McGuire, was a socialist carpenter and a founder of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners.” The TPPF take: Let’s celebrate Labor Day, but dispense with its communist roots. “This Labor Day, I...
Holiday Road What to know: Labor Day travel in the U.S. could break records this weekend, with lower gas prices, air fares and eased TSA rules. The TPPF take: America is back on the move again, in part due to the Trump economy. “The Biden administration’s war on domestic energy, including the former president’s ham-fisted approach to gas...
No Apologies What to know: World leaders joined President Donald Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the White House last week to talk about peace. The TPPF take: The scene was in stark contrast to former President Barack Obama’s apology tours. “European leaders acknowledged Trump’s critical leadership in ending the war in Ukraine,” says TPPF’s Sherry Sylvester....
Cracking Up What to know: The family restaurant chain Cracker Barrel has “ruined a good thing,” customers say, following the company’s woke rebrand. The TPPF take: Americans are united—in hating the rebrand. “California Gov. Gavin Newsom followed Donald Trump, Jr. and a country-wide tsunami of conservative critics who roared back after the new Cracker Barrel restaurants CEO, Julie Feiss...
Sovereignty What to know: Newly sworn in Polish President Karol Nawrocki will soon meet with President Donald Trump. The TPPF take: Poland’s political shift is rooted in a crisis that should sound familiar to Americans: weaponized mass migration. “Poland faced the same chaos America has experienced under former President Joe Biden—hundreds, sometimes thousands, of daily border encounters, with...